Memorial Hall refurb work gets underway

John A. MacInnes

Work has started work on a £1.1million project to transform Bishopbriggs War Memorial Hall.

Construction work to extensively upgrade the facility is set to run until the builders finish at the end of April.

The work involves a full refurbishment of the main and lesser hall, a new kitchen, fully refurbished toilets throughout and general repairs and upgrades to the outside of the building.

Following the refurbishment, library services and a temporary community hub will operate from the building as work begins on the £2m Hub development at nearby Bishopbriggs Library.

It will bring together council, library, leisure and cultural services in a single building, and will also contain a multi-purpose room for children’s activities and reading groups, a computer learning suite, private rooms for business meetings and an enhanced heritage space which will incorporate the Thomas Muir Museum.

The on-site customer services team is promised to make it easier for residents to access and obtain information about a variety of different council services and will allow them to make payments in just one visit.

The project has come in for criticism after it was scaled back by council bosses – with the budget slashed from £5.6million down to £2.1million.

But depute council leader Billy Hendry insisted it was good news for the town.

He said: “The work at the War Memorial Hall and the development of a Community Hub at Bishopbriggs Library is great news for Bishopbriggs and will see major investment in the town centre.

“Once completed, they will provide everyone in Bishopbriggs with state-of-the-art facilities they will be proud of.

“By phasing the works on these two key facilities, we will ensure that library and Hub services are continually delivered to the people of Bishopbriggs throughout these exciting developments.”

The contractor, Kier Construction, is now on site and closed the existing car park to the rear of the Memorial Hall last weekend.

A safe pedestrian access will be maintained through the site between Balmuildy Road and Cadder South Halls and Bishopbriggs Tennis Club.

The combined investment in the area will see the completed War Memorial Hall and new Library and Community Hub building available to the local community in winter 2017.

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